Sunday, November 27, 2016

there were just a few widely watched reports released this week, with no releases on Thanksgiving or Friday....Tuesday saw the Existing Home Sales Report for October from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and Wednesday saw the advance report on durable goods for October and the October report on new home sales, both from the Census bureau...on Monday we had the release of the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) for October, a weighted composite index of 85 different economic metrics, which rose to -0.08 in October from -0.23 in September, revised from the -0.14 that had been reported for September last month....that left the 3 month average of the index at –0.27 in October, down from a revised –0.20 in September, which indicates that national economic activity remains somewhat below the historical trend over recent months....in addition, Tuesday also saw the release of the Richmond Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity for November, covering an area that includes Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, the District of Columbia and West Virginia, which reportedits broadest composite index rose to +4 in November from -4 in October, the first positive reading in 3 months, suggesting a return to expansion for that region's manufacturing...

October Durable Goods: New Orders Up 4.8%, Shipments Up 0.1%, Inventories Unchanged

the Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for October (pdf) from the Census Bureau reported that the value of the widely watched new orders for manufactured durable goods increased by $11.0 billion or 4.8 percent to $239.4 billion in October, after September's new orders were revised from the $227.3 billion reported last month to $228.4 billion, now 0.4% greater than August's orders, which had originally been reported as down 0.1%...year to date new orders are still 0.2% below those of 2015, vs the -0.4% year over year change we saw in this report last month....the volatile monthly change in new orders for transportation equipment was responsible for the big jump, as new transportation equipment orders rose $9.5 billion or 12.0 percent to $88.2 billion, on a 94.1% increase to $21,819 million in new orders for commercial aircraft....excluding orders for transportation equipment, new orders still rose 1.0%, and excluding just new orders for defense equipment, new orders increased 5.2%.... at the same time, new orders for nondefense capital goods less aircraft, a proxy for equipment investment, rose $234 million or 0.4% to $63,053 million...

meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted value of October shipments of durable goods, which will be included as inputs into various components of 4th quarter GDP after adjusting for changes in prices, increased by $0.2 billion or 0.1 percent to $234.6 billion, after September shipments were revised from from $234.5 billion to $234.4 billion, still up 0.8% from August...shipments of transportation equipment were down 1.4% on a 0.7% decrease in shipments of motor vehicles, a 3.6% decrease in shipments of commercial aircraft, and a 4.4% decrease in shipments of defense aircraft, while a $0.3 billion or 1.1% increase to $30.5 billion in shipments of fabricated metal products led the overall shipments increase...at the same time, the value of seasonally adjusted inventories of durable goods, also a major GDP contributor, rose for the 4th month in a row, after being down the prior 6 months, increasing by $0.1 billion or less than 0.1 percent to $383.7 billion, after September inventories were revised from $384.0 billion to $383.6 billion, statistically unchanged from August...a $0.2 billion or 0.2 percent to $123.8 billion in inventories of transportation equipment accounted for the increase, as without them other inventories were down by $0.1 billion...

finally, unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods, which are probably a better measure of industry conditions than the widely watched but volatile new orders, increased for the first time in 5 months, rising by $8.2 billion or 0.7 percent to $1,128.6 billion, following a September decrease of 0.2%, which was revised from the previously reported 0.4% decrease...a $7.5 billion or 1.0 percent to $773.1 billion increase in unfilled orders for transportation equipment was responsible for most of the increase, as unfilled orders excluding transportation equipment orders were up $753 million or 0.2% to $355,527 million...compared to a year earlier, the unfilled order book for durable goods is still 1.1% below the level of last October, with unfilled orders for transportation equipment still 1.9% below their year ago level, largely on a 6.7% decrease in the backlog of orders for motor vehicles...

Recent New Home Sales Revised Lower, Still Ahead of Last Year’s Pace

the Census report on New Residential Sales for October (pdf) estimated that new single family homes were selling at a seasonally adjusted pace of 563,000 homes annually, which was 1.9 percent (±13.1%)* below the revised September rate of 574,000 new single family home sales a year but 17.8 percent (±16.9%) above the estimated annual rate that new homes were selling at in October of last year....the asterisk indicates that based on their small sampling, Census could not be certain whether October new home sales rose or fell from those of September, with the figures in parenthesis representing the 90% confidence range for reported data in this report, which has the largest margin of error and is subject to the largest revisions of any census construction series....with this report; sales new single family homes in September were revised from the annual rate of 593,000 reported last month to a 574,000 a year rate, while home sales in August, initially reported at an annual rate of 609,000 and revised to a 575,000 a year rate last month, were revised to a 567,000 a year rate with this report, and while July's annualized home sale rate, initially reported at an annual rate of 654,000 and revised from a 659,000 a year rate to a 652,000 a year rate last month, were further revised down to a 622,000 rate with this release..

the annual rates of sales reported here are seasonally adjusted after extrapolation from the estimates of canvassing Census field reps, which indicated that approximately 45,000 new single family homes sold in October, approximately the same as the estimated 45,000 new homes that sold in September but down from the 47,000 that sold in July.....the raw numbers from Census field agents further estimated that the median sales price of new houses sold in October was $304,500, down from the median sale price of $314,100 in September but up from the median sales price of $298,700 in October a year ago, while the average October new home sales price was $354,900, down from the $364,100 average sales price in September, and down from the average sales price of $366,900 in October a year ago....a seasonally adjusted estimate of 246,000 new single family houses remained for sale at the end of October, which represents a 5.2 month supply at the October sales rate, up from the reported 4.8 months of new home supply in September...for graphs and additional commentary on this report, see the following two posts by Bill McBride at Calculated Risk: New Home Sales at 563,000 Annual Rate in October and A few Comments on October New Home Sales..

October Existing Home Sales Up 2.0% from September

the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that their seasonally adjusted count of existing home sales rose by 2.0% from September to October, projecting that a post recession record 5.60 million existing homes would sell over an entire year if the October home sales pace were extrapolated over that year, a pace that was also 5.9% above the annual sales rate projected in October of a year ago...September sales, now shown at a 5.49 million annual rate, were revised up from the 5.47 million annual rate indicated by last month's report...the NAR also reported that the median sales price for all existing-home types was $232,200 in October, down from $235,300 in September but 6.0% higher than in October a year earlier, which they report as "the 56th consecutive month of year-over-year gains".....the NAR press release, which is titled "Existing-Home Sales Jump Again in October", is in easy to read plain English, so if you're interested in the details on housing inventories, cash sales, distressed sales, first time home buyers, etc., you can easily find them in that press release...as sales of existing properties do not add to our national output, neither these home sales nor the prices for which these homes sell are included in GDP, except insofar as real estate, local government and banking services are rendered during the selling process…

since this report is entirely seasonally adjusted and at a not very informative annual rate, we like to look at the raw data overview (pdf), which gives us a close approximation to the actual number of homes that sold each month...this unadjusted data indicates that roughly 446,000 homes sold in October, down by 8.2% from the 486,000 homes that sold in September, and up by less than a half percent from the 471,000 homes that sold in October of last year, so we can see that it was just a seasonal adjustment that caused the annualized published figures to show an increase......that same pdf indicates that the median home selling price for all housing types fell 1.3%, from a revised $235,300 in September to $232,200 in October, while the average home sales price was $274,300, down 1.0% from the $277,100 average sales price in September, but up 4.4% from the $262,700 average home sales price of October a year ago...regionally, average home sales prices ranged from a low of $212,000 in the Midwest to a high of $372,900 in the West, with only the West seeing average home prices rise by a modest $500... for both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted graphs and additional commentary on this report, see the following two posts from Bill McBride at Calculated Risk: Existing Home Sales increased in October to 5.60 million SAAR and A Few Comments on October Existing Home Sales...

this week also saw the release of three regional Fed manufacturing surveys for November: the Empire State Manufacturing Survey from the New York Fed, which covers all of New York state, one county in Connecticut, Puerto Rico and northern New Jersey, reported their headline general business conditions index rose from -6.8 in October to +1.5 in November, it's first positive reading in 4 months, suggesting that the contraction in First District manufacturing may be ending...the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey, covering most of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware, reported its broadest diffusion index of manufacturing conditions edged down, from a reading of +9.7 in October to +7.6 in November, suggesting that the region's manufacturing continues to expand, albeit at a more moderate pace, while the Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey, covering western Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming and northern New Mexico, which reported its broadest composite index fell to +1 in September, down from +6 in both September and October, suggesting weak expansion in that region for the third month in a row, following 18 months of contraction mostly in energy related industries...

Retail Sales Rise 0.8% in October after September Increase Revised up to 1.0%

seasonally adjusted retail sales increased in October after retail sales for August and September were both revised higher...the Advance Retail Sales Report for October (pdf) from the Census Bureau estimated that our seasonally adjusted retail and food services sales totaled $465.9 billion during the month, which was up 0.8 percent (±0.5%) from September's revised sales of $462.1 billion and 4.3 percent (±0.7%) above the adjusted sales in October of last year...September's seasonally adjusted sales were revised from $459.8 billion to $462.1 billion, while August's sales were also revised a bit higher, from $457.0 billion to $457.2 billion, with this release....estimated unadjusted sales, extrapolated from surveys of a small sampling of retailers, indicated sales rose 1.5%, from $447,774 million in September to $454,520 million in October, while they were up 2.2% from the $444,959 million of sales in October a year ago...the total $2.5 billion upward revision to August and September sales should boost previous estimates of the personal consumption expenditures contribution to 3rd quarter GDP by about 0.22 percentage points...

included below is the table of the monthly and yearly percentage changes in retail sales by business type taken from the October Census Marts pdf....the first double column below gives us the seasonally adjusted percentage change in sales for each kind of business from the September revised figure to this month's October "advance" report in the first sub-column, and then the year over year percentage sales change since last October in the 2nd column...the second double column pair below gives us the revision of the September advance estimates (now called "preliminary") as of this report, with the new August to September percentage change under "Aug 2016 r" (revised) and the September 2015 to September 2016 percentage change as revised in the last column shown...for your reference, the table of last month’s advance estimate of September sales, before this month's revisions, is here.….

from the above table, we can see that the 1.1% increase to $94,683 million in seasonally adjusted sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers was not a major factor in the October sales increase, because without automotive sales, retail sales were still up 0.8%...car sales for September, however, were revised higher, from $92,862 million to $93,681 million, and were responsible for most of the upward revision to that month's sales...also note that there was an 2.4% increase to $33,860 million in sales at gas stations, which we figure to be mostly due to higher prices....however, if we take out both gas station sales and motor vehicles and parts sales, retail sales were still up 0.7%...we'll be able to ascertain the net economic impact of this nominal jump in retail sales once we adjust them for the price data from the CPI..

October CPI up 0.4% on Higher Priced Gasoline

the consumer price index increased by 0.4% in October, as higher prices for energy and housing were only partially offset by lower prices for groceries...the Consumer Price Index Summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that the seasonally adjusted price index rose 0.4% in October after it had risen 0.3% in September, 0.2% in August, been unchanged in July, and rose 0.2% in both May and June....the unadjusted CPI-U, which was set with prices of the 1982 to 1984 period equal to 100, rose from 241.428 in September to 241.729 in October, which left it statistically 1.636% higher than the 237.838 index reading of last October, which is reported as a 1.6% YoY increase....regionally, prices for urban consumers have risen 2.3% in the West, 1.6% in the Northeast, 1.5% in the South, and 1.0% in the Midwest over the past year, with greater price increases within regions in cities of more than 1,500,000 people everywhere except in the Northeast, where the largest cities averaged just a 1.5% price increase...with higher prices for gasoline alone accounting for more than half the gain in the overall index, seasonally adjusted core prices, which exclude food and energy, rose by just 0.1% for the month, with the unadjusted core index rising from 248.731 to 249.218, which put it 2.144% ahead of its year ago reading of 243.985...

the volatile seasonally adjusted energy price index increased by 3.5% in October, after it had risen 2.9% in September, been unchanged in August and fell by 1.6% in July...that October increase was also enough to push the year over year energy index into positive territory at +0.1% for the first time in almost 2 years....prices for energy commodities were 6.7% higher while the index for energy services rose by 0.5%, after rising by 0.7% in September....the increase in the energy commodity index included a 7.0% hike in the price of gasoline, the largest component, and a 5.9% increase in the price of fuel oil, while prices for other fuels, including propane, kerosene and firewood, fell by an average of 0.2%…within energy services, the index for utility gas service rose by 0.9% after increasing by 0.8% in September, 2.1% in August and by 3.1% in July, and hence utility gas is now priced 4.8% higher than it was a year ago, while the electricity price index rose by 0.4%, after increasing by 0.7% in September...however, energy commodities are still priced 0.9% below their year ago levels, with gasoline prices also averaging 0.9% lower than they were a year ago.…meanwhile, the energy services price index is now 1.3% higher than last October, as even electricity prices have increased by 0.4% over that period..

the seasonally adjusted food price index was unchanged in October, just as it was in July, August and in September, as 0.2% lower prices for food purchased for use at home offset 0.1% higher prices for food bought to eat away from home, where average prices at fast food outlets rose 0.2% while average prices at full service restaurants was unchanged...the food price index is now 0.4% lower than a year ago, as a 2.3% decrease in the price of food at home has been mostly offset by a 2.4% increase in prices for food away from home, which included a 1.9% increase in prices of lunches at elementary and secondary schools...

in the food at home categories, the price index for cereals and bakery products was unchanged as 2.7% higher prices for rice and a 0.5% increase in prices for bread were offset by a 2.7% decrease in prices for fresh sweetrolls, coffeecakes, doughnuts and a 1.0% decrease in flour and prepared flour mixes...the price index for the meats, poultry, fish, and eggs group fell by 0.7% as beef prices fell 1.5%, egg prices fell 1.2%, and pork prices fell 1.1%, while the index for dairy products was 0.3% higher as a 0.9% increase in prices for milk was offset by 0.2% drop in prices for other dairy products...the fruits and vegetables index was 0.2% higher, as a 2.2% increase in prices for frozen fruits and vegetables and a 0.9% increase for canned fruits and vegetables more than offset 1.5% lower prices for oranges and 2.0% lower priced lettuce....the beverages index was 0.4% lower as a 1.1% drop in the price of roast coffee more than offset 0.7% higher prices for carbonated drinks...lastly, prices in the other foods at home category were on average 0.1% lower, as 2.0% lower priced butter and 1.0% lower salad dressings were offset by higher prepared frozen foods and 0.5% higher peanut butter......among food at home line items, only eggs, which are now priced 35.5% lower than a year ago, and lettuce, which is 11.9% lower than last year, have seen a price change greater than 10% over the past year...the itemized list for price changes in over 100 separate food items is included at the beginning of Table 2, which gives us a line item breakdown for prices of more than 200 CPI items overall...

among the seasonally adjusted core components of the CPI, which rose by 0.1% in October after rising by 0.1% in September, 0.3% in August, 0.1% in July and by 0.2% in April, in May and in June, the composite of all goods less food and energy goods increased by 0.1%, while the composite for all services less energy services was 0.2% higher....among the goods components, which will be used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to adjust October retail sales for inflation in national accounts data, the index for household furnishings and supplies was unchanged as a 2.5% drop in prices for laundry equipment was offset by 2.5% higher prices for living room, kitchen, and dining room furniture, while the apparel price index was 0.3% higher on a 1.0% increase in prices for footwear and a 0.3% increase in prices for women's apparel...prices for transportation commodities other than fuel were up 0.1%, as prices for new cars rose 0.2%, prices for new trucks rose 0.3%, while prices for used cars and trucks were down 0.1% after falling 0.3% in September, 0.6% in August,1.0% in July, 1.1% in June and 1.3% in May...meanwhile, prices for medical care commodities were 0.1% higher on a 0.2% increase in prescription drug prices...on the other hand, the recreational commodities index fell 0.4% on a 1.2% drop in TV prices and 1.3% lower toy prices, and the education and communication commodities index was 0.6% lower as a 2.1% cut in prices for personal computers and a 1.8% price drop for telephone hardware more than offset a 0.3% increase in prices for college textbooks....lastly, a separate price index for alcoholic beverages was up 0.4% on 0.6% higher prices for beer and 0.9% higher prices for distilled spirits at home, while the price index for ‘other goods’ was down 0.1% as a 0.4% increase in cigarette prices was more than offset by 0.3% decreases in prices for cosmetics, perfume, bath, nail preparations and implements and for hair, dental, shaving, and miscellaneous personal care products...

within core services, the price index for shelter rose 0.4% on a 0.4% increase in rents, a 0.3% increase in owner's equivalent rent, and a 1.8% increase in costs for lodging away from home at hotels and motels, while costs for water, sewers and trash collection rose 0.1% and other household operation costs were 0.3% higher....meanwhile, the index for medical care services was unchanged as prices for hospital services rose 0.2% while prices for both physicians' services and health insurance were 0.1% lower...at the same time, the transportation services index was 0.2% lower on a 2.2% drop in airfares and 0.5% lower car and truck leasing...the recreation services index was unchanged as pet services rose 0.4% while video & audio rental services fell 2.4%, and the index for education and communication services was also unchanged as internet services providers cut prices 1.0%, wireless telephone services were 0.5% lower, while elementary and high school tuition and fees rose 0.8% and college tuitions rose 0.4%...lastly, the index for other personal services was also unchanged as tax return services fell 0.2% while apparel services other than laundry and dry cleaning were 0.5% higher...among core prices, televisions, which are now 21.7% cheaper than a year ago, internet services, which are down by 10.1% since last October, wireless telephone services, which are 10.2% lower, and automobile service club membership fees, which are now down 10.8% from a year ago, all saw prices drop by more than 10% over the past year, while no line item showed an increase of that magnitude...

Estimating the Real Change in October Retail Sales Using the October CPI

with this CPI release for October, we can now attempt to estimate the economic impact of the October retail sales figures which we reviewed earlier, which saw nominal sales rise 0.8%...for the most accurate estimate, and the way the BEA will be figuring 4th quarter GDP at the end of January, we would have to take each type of retail sales and adjust it with the appropriate change in price to determine real sales; for instance, October's clothing store sales, which were up by 0.6% in dollars, should be adjusted with the price index for apparel, which indicated prices for clothing were up by 0.3%, which tells us that real retail sales of clothing were only up by 0.3% October...then, to get a GDP relevant quarterly change, we'd have to compare such adjusted real clothing sales for October with the similarly adjusted real clothing consumption for the 3 months of the third quarter (July, August and September), and then repeat that process for each other type of retailer, obviously quite a tedious task to undertake manually. The short cut we usually take to get a quick and dirty estimate of the change in real sales for the month is to apply the composite price index of all commodities less food and energy commodities, which was up 0.1%, to retail sales less grocery, gas station, and restaurant sales, which accounts for nearly 70% of aggregate retail sales…in dollars, those sales were up by roughly 0.9% in October, while as we noted their composite price index was up 0.1%, meaning that real retail sales excluding food and energy sales were up by around 0.8%. then, for the rest of the retail aggregate, we find sales at food and beverage stores were up 0.9% in September, while prices for food at home were down 0.2%, suggesting a real increase of around 1.1% in the quantity of food & beverages purchased for the month. Next, sales at bars and restaurants were down 0.7% in dollars, but those dollars also bought 0.2% less “food away from home”, so real sales at bars and restaurants were really down by about 0.9%. And while gas station sales were up 2.2%, gasoline prices were up 7.0%, suggesting a 4.8% real decrease in the amount of gasoline sold, with the caveat that gas stations sell more than gasoline, and since we don't have a detailed breakout on that, we'll just zero out that obviously wrong decrease in gasoline consumption from our calculation...thus, weighing the food and energy components at roughly 30% of total retail sales, and core sales at 70%, we can estimate that the aggregate of real retail sales in October were up about 0.6% from those of September…

next, to see how the change in real October sales impacts the change in 4th quarter GDP, we have to compare those October sales to those of the 3rd quarter...first, to get an approximation of the real adjusted changes for October vis a vis the 3 months of the third quarter, we also have to adjust the October percentage change for the upward revision to September and August sales that were included in the October retail report, which saw September's seasonally adjusted sales revised from $459.8 billion to $462.1 billion and August's sales revised from $457.0 billion to $457.2 billion...percentage-wise, those revisions increased the September sales increase over August from 0.6% to 1.0%, while it left the August percentage change statistically unchanged at 0.1% below July...next, we access Table 7 in the pdf for the September personal income and outlays report, which gives us already inflation adjusted changes for the prior months, where we find that real sales of goods were up 0.6% in July, down 0.8% in August and up 0.5% in September (month over month)...after adjusting those real sales with the blunt instrument of the October retail revisions, we could then estimate that revised real goods would be up 0.6% in July, down 0.8% in August and up 0.9% in September...that means that October real sales, up 0.6% from September, were hence up about 1.5% from August and up 0.7% from July, or up more than 0.9% from the average of the 3rd quarter...that works out to growth in real goods consumption at a 3.75% annual rate, a pace that would add at approximately .82 (+/-10%) percentage points to 4th quarter GDP in the goods portion of personal consumption expenditures alone, even should November and December show no improvement...

the Fed's G17 release on Industrial production and Capacity Utilization reported that industrial production was unchanged in October by after falling by a revised 0.2 percent in September, as revisions to the index for utilities raised the rate of change in total industrial production in August from down 0.5% to down 0.1%, while it lowered the September change from up 0.1 to down 0.2%….the June to July percentage increase was also revised, from up 0.5% to up 0.4%....the industrial production index, with the benchmark now set for average 2012 production to equal to 100.0, rose to 104.3 in October from 104.2 in September, which was statistically unrevised after the August index was revised from 104.2 to 104.5, and the July index was revised from 104.7 to 104.6...year over year industrial production remains down 0.9%, slightly better than last month's 1.0% decrease....

the manufacturing index, which accounts for more than 77% of the total IP index, increased by 0.2, from 103.0 in September to 103.2 in October, after September's manufacturing index was revised down from 103.1 to 103.0, August's index was revised down from 102.9 to 102.8, and July's index was revised down from 103.5 to 103.4....meanwhile, the mining index, which includes oil and gas well drilling, rose from 104.2 in September to 106.1 in October, after the September index was revised down from 104.3, leaving the mining index 7.0% lower than it was a year ago....finally, the utility index, which often fluctuates due to above or below normal temperatures, fell 2.6% in September, from 104.9 to 102.2, after the September utility index was revised up from 103.8 and the August utility index was revised up from 104.9 to 108.1; as a result of those revisions, the utility index is only 0.1% lower than it was a year earlier..

this report also includes capacity utilization data, which is expressed as the percentage of our plant and equipment that was in use during the month, and which indicated that seasonally adjusted capacity utilization for total industry fell to 75.3% in October from 75.4% in September, which was recalculated but unchanged from last month’s report ...capacity utilization of NAICS durable goods production facilities rose from 76.0% in September to 76.2% in October, after September's figure was revised up from 75.8%, while capacity utilization for non-durables producers was unchanged from a downwardly revised 74.3%...capacity utilization for the mining sector rose to 77.0% in October from 75.2% in September, which was originally reported as 75.5%, while utilities were operating at 77.8% of capacity during October, down from their 79.9% of capacity during September, which was revised up from the previously reported 79.1%...for more details on capacity utilization by type of manufacturer, see Table 7: Capacity Utilization: Manufacturing, Mining, and Utilities, which shows the historical capacity utilization figures for a dozen types of durable goods manufacturers, 8 classifications of non-durable manufacturers, mining, utilities, and capacity utilization for a handful of other special categories....

Producer Prices Flat in October as Higher Energy Prices are Offset by Lower Trade and Core Services

the seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand was unchanged in October as prices for finished wholesale goods increased 0.4%, while margins of final services providers fell by 0.3%...this followed a September report that indicated the overall PPI had increased by 0.3%, with prices for finished goods up 0.7% while final demand for services rose 0.1%, and a August report that indicated the PPI was statistically unchanged, with prices for finished goods down 0.4% while final demand for services rose 0.1%....producer prices are now up 0.8% from a year ago, since most of the price decreases relating to lower oil and commodity prices went by the boards in early 2015...

as noted, the price index for final demand for goods, aka 'finished goods', rose by 0.4% in October, after rising 0.7% in September but falling by 0.4% in both July and August, as the index for wholesale energy prices rose 2.5% from September to October while the price index for wholesale foods was 0.8% lower and the index for final demand for core wholesale goods (ex food and energy) rose 0.1%...major wholesale price changes for September included a 20% increase for liquefied petroleum gas and a 9.7% increase for gasoline, while wholesale prices for eggs fell 21.1%, after rising 24.2% in September..

meanwhile, the index for final demand for services fell by 0.3% in October after rising by 0.1% in both August and September, falling by 0.3% in July and rising 0.4% in June, as the index for final demand for transportation and warehousing services rose 0.2% while the index for final demand for trade services fell 0.3% and the core services index for final demand for services less trade, transportation, and warehousing services was also 0.3% lower....among transportation and warehousing services, margins for air transport of freight rose 0.5% and margins for truck transport of freight rose 0.3% ..among trade services, seasonally adjusted margins for fuels and lubricants retailers were down 7.4%, margins for TV, video, and photographic equipment and supplies retailers were down 5.1%, and margins for food and alcohol retailers were 3.0% lower, while margins for major household appliances retailers were up 10.2%.. in the core final demand services index, 5.7% lower margins for securities brokerage, dealing, investment advice, and related services was the major factor in the October drop in the index…

this report also showed the price index for processed goods for intermediate demand was 0.3% higher, after rising 0.5% in September, falling 0.1% in August, and rising 0.2% in July, 0.9% in June, and 0.8% in May...however, prices for intermediate processed goods still remain 0.5% lower than in October a year ago, as they fell every month from last July through March....the price index for intermediate energy goods rose by 1.2% in October, while prices for intermediate processed foods and feeds fell 0.7%, and the core price index for processed goods for intermediate demand less food and energy was 0.2% higher...

at the same time, the price index for intermediate unprocessed goods was 0.6% lower in October, after rising by 1.3% in September, falling by 2.8% in August and 0.4% in July but after rising by 2.8% in June, 1.3% in May, 3.0% in April and 1.6% in March, in the only increases in that index since June of last year...contributing to the October decrease was a 5.7% drop in the price index for unprocessed foodstuffs and feedstuffs, as slaughter livestock prices fell 11.5%, and a 1.1% decrease in the index for core raw materials other than food and energy materials, while the index for crude energy goods rose 5.8% as prices for crude oil rose 10.4%... this raw materials index is still 4.2% lower than it was a year ago, but most of the year over year decrease of 26.4% that was seen in November 2015 has now been retraced...

lastly, the price index for services for intermediate demand was 0.6% lower in October, after being 0.4% higher in September, unchanged in August but after rising 0.3% higher in July and 0.8% in June, in only the second decrease for this index in the past year... the index for trade services for intermediate demand was 0.5% lower and the core price index for services less trade, transportation, and warehousing for intermediate demand was down 0.8%, while the index for transportation and warehousing services for intermediate demand was 0.2% higher...a major factor in the decrease in prices for core services for intermediate demand was a 3.1% decrease in the index for intermediate services related to business loans (partial); in addition, the indexes for securities brokerage, dealing, investment advice, and related services and marketing consulting services were also lower…margins for minerals and ores wholesaling, chemicals and allied products wholesaling, and fuels and lubricants retailing pulled the intermediate trade services down, while a 0.4% increase in prices for courier, messenger, and U.S. postal services led the intermediate transportation and warehousing services higher…over the 12 months ended in October, the year over year price index for services for intermediate demand, which has never turned negative on an annual basis, is now 2.3% higher than it was a year ago...

October Housing Starts Jump Most in 34 Years, New Permits Rise

the report on New Residential Construction for October (pdf) from the Census Bureau estimated that new housing units were being started at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,323,000 units during the month, which was 25.5 percent (±12.6%) above the revised September estimated annual rate of 1,154,000 housing unit starts, and was 23.3 percent (±14.4%) above last October's pace of 1,073,000 housing starts a year...the figures in parenthesis are the most likely range of the change indicated; in other words, October's housing starts could have been up by as little as 12.9% or by as much as 38.1% from those of September, with even larger revisions possible after a number of months...in this report, the annual rate for September housing starts was revised up more than 10%, from the 1,047,000 reported last month to 1,154,000, while July starts, which were first reported at a 1,142,000 annual rate, were revised up from last month's initial revised figure of 1,150,000 annually to 1,164,000 annually with this report....

those annual rates of starts reported here were extrapolated from a survey of a small percentage of US building permit offices visited by canvassing Census field agents, which estimated that 114,900 housing units were started in October, up from the 94,800 units that were started in September...of those housing units started in October, an estimated 73,500 were single family homes and 40,500 were units in structures with more than 5 units, up from the revised 67,700 single family starts in September, and up from the 25,700 units started in structures with more than 5 units in September...

the monthly data on new building permits, with a smaller margin of error, are probably a better monthly indicator of new housing construction trends than the volatile and often revised housing starts data...in October, Census estimated new building permits were being issued at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,229,000 housing units, which was 0.3 percent (±2.0%)* above the September rate of 1,225,000 permits, and was 4.6 percent (±1.4%) above the rate of building permit issuance in October a year earlier...the annual rate for housing permits issued in September was unrevised at 1,225,000....again, these annual estimates for new permits reported here were extrapolated from the unadjusted estimates collected monthly by canvassing census agents, which showed permits for 97,900 housing units were issued in October, actually down from the revised estimate of 107,700 new permits issued in September...the October permits included 60,500 permits for single family homes, down from 63,300 single family permits issued in September, and 35,000 permits for housing units in apartment buildings with 5 or more units, down from 41,000 such multifamily permits a month earlier... for more graphs and commentary on this report, see the following two posts by Bill McBride at Calculated Risk: Housing Starts increased to 1.323 Million Annual Rate in October and Comments on October Housing Starts...

September Business Sales Up 0.7% Business Inventories Up 0.1%

after the release of the October retail sales report, the Census Bureau released the composite Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales report for September (pdf), which incorporates the revised September retail data from that October report and the earlier published September wholesale and factory data to give us a complete picture of the business contribution to the economy for that month....according to the Census Bureau, total manufacturer's and trade sales were estimated to be valued at a seasonally adjusted $1,314.6 billion in September, up 0.7 percent (±0.2%) from August's revised sales, and up 0.8 percent (±0.4%) from September sales of a year earlier...note that total August sales were concurrently revised up from the originally reported $1,304.1 billion to $1,305.9 billion....manufacturer's sales were up 0.8% to $463,012 million in September, and retail trade sales, which exclude restaurant & bar sales from the revised September retail sales reported earlier, rose 1.0% to $406,691 million, while wholesale sales rose 0.2% to $444,945 million...

meanwhile, total manufacturer's and trade inventories, a major component of GDP, were estimated to be valued at a seasonally adjusted $1,818.7 billion at the end of September, up 0.1 percent (±0.1%)* from August, and 0.6 percent (±0.6%)* higher than in September a year earlier...the value of end of August inventories, although recalculated, remained statistically unrevised at the $1,816.9 billion reported last month...seasonally adjusted inventories of manufacturers were estimated to be valued at $621,350 million, statistically unchanged from August, inventories of retailers were valued at $607,205 million, 0.2% more than in August, while inventories of wholesalers were estimated to be valued at $590,176 million at the end of September, 0.1% higher than in August...

in assessing the impact of the components of this report on 3rd quarter GDP, we looked at the September factory inventories reported two weeks ago and now included herein and judged that 3rd quarter GDP would have to be adjusted upwards by 0.09 percentage points to account for the differences between that factory report and GDP estimates; conversely, last week we judged that September wholesale inventories were over-estimated at a $2.06 billion rate, implying an downward revision of 0.06 percentage points to 3rd quarter GDP...for retail inventories, the BEA's technical note for 3rd quarter GDP indicates that they had estimated that the value of June retail inventories in September to be $607.6 billion, up from $605.8 billion in August...this report thus revises that and reports that September retail inventories were actually at $607.2 billion, meaning the end of 3rd quarter retail inventories were lower, at a $1.6 billion annual rate, than the BEA had estimated in the advance report of 3rd quarter GDP, thus suggesting a downward revision of 0.04 percentage points to 3rd quarter GDP, based on those overestimated retail inventories....together, the BEA's net overestimation of 3rd quarter business inventories would thus imply a 0.01 percentage point reduction to 3rd quarter GDP when the 2nd estimate is released at the end of November...

Job Openings Increase in September; Hiring and Firing Fall

the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report for September from the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that seasonally adjusted job openings increased by 33,000, from 5,453,000 in August to 5,486,000 in September, after August job openings were revised 10,000 lower, from 5,443,000 to 5,453,000...September's jobs openings were 2.3% higher than the 5,360,000 job openings reported in September a year ago, as the job opening ratio expressed as a percentage of the employed rose from 3.6% in August to 3.7% in September, which was also up from 3.6% a year ago...all of the September increase in openings can be accounted for by the 33,000 job opening increase to 1,055,000 openings in the broad professional and business services sector, while the leisure and hospitality sector saw openings by decrease 48,000 to 701,000 (see table 1 for more details)...like most BLS releases, the press release for this report is easy to understand and also refers us to the associated table for the data cited, which are linked at the end of the release...

September Wholesale Sales Up 0.2%, Wholesale Inventories Up 0.1%

the September report on Wholesale Trade, Sales and Inventories (pdf) from the Census Bureau estimated that the seasonally adjusted value of wholesale sales was at $444.9 billion, up 0.2 percent (+/-0.4%) from the revised August level, and up 0.4 percent (+/-1.1%) from wholesale sales of September 2015... the August preliminary estimate was revised down to $444.1 billion from the $444.3 billion in wholesale sales reported last month, which nonetheless left the July to August change statistically unchanged at +0.7%.... September wholesale sales of durable goods were up 0.2 percent (+/-0.7%) from last month and were up 0.2 percent (+/-1.8%) from a year earlier, with a 1.5% increase in wholesale sales of electrical and electronic goods leading the increase for the month, partially offset by 2.4% lower wholesale sales of hardware, plumbing and heating equipment and supplies....wholesale sales of nondurable goods were up 0.1 percent (+/-0.7%) from August and were up 0.5 percent (+/-1.2%) from last September, with a 5.0% increase in wholesale sales of petroleum and petroleum products offsetting a 12.0% decrease in wholesale sales of farm product raw materials...as an intermediate activity, wholesale sales are not included in GDP except insofar as they are a trade service, since the traded goods themselves do not represent an increase in the output of the goods produced or finally sold....

on the other hand, the monthly change in private inventories is a major factor in GDP, as additional goods left in a warehouse represent goods that were produced but not sold, and this September report estimated that wholesale inventories were valued at a seasonally adjusted $590.2 billion at month end, up 0.1 percent (+/-0.2%) from the revised August level but 0.1 percent (+/-1.9%)* lower than in September a year ago....August's inventory value was revised from $589.1 billion to $589.45 billion, which meant that the August to September percent change was revised from the advance estimate of down 0.2 percent (+/-0.4%) to down 0.1 percent (+/-0.4%)...wholesale inventories of durable goods were down 0.4 percent (+/-0.4%) from August, and were down 1.9 percent (+/-1.6%) from a year ago, with 1.7% lower wholesale inventories of motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts driving the September decrease...at the same time, the value of wholesale inventories of nondurable goods were up 0.9 percent (+/-0.4%) from August and were up 2.7 percent (+/-3.3%) from last September, as the value of wholesale inventories of petroleum and petroleum products were up 3.8% and inventories of drugs and druggists' sundries were up 3.3%..

the BEA's technical note for 3rd quarter GDP indicates that they had estimated that the value of wholesale inventories to be at $590.7 billion in September, up from 589.5 billion in August, which they based on the new Advance Economic Indicators Report from the Census Bureau, a sketchy report which had been released before the advance GDP report...this report thus revises that advance report and thus reports that end of September wholesale inventories were actually $0.5 billion less than had been indicated in the GDP report, or a revision to annualized nominal growth in inventories at $2.06 billion annual rate, thus implying an downward revision of 0.06 percentage points to 3rd quarter GDP...note that we are not adjusting these GDP revision estimates for inflation because we have assumed that the same deflators that were used in the advance report on 3rd quarter GDP will be used in the GDP revisions…

Mortgage Delinquencies Up Slightly in September, New Foreclosures Down 10.3%

the Mortgage Monitor for September (pdf) from Black Knight Financial Services (BKFS, formerly LPS) reported that there were 509,047 home mortgages, or 1.04% of all mortgages outstanding, remaining in the foreclosure process at the end of September, which was down from 527,298, or 1.04% of all active loans, that were in foreclosure at the end of August, and down from 1.46% of all mortgages that were in foreclosure in September of last year.....these are homeowners who at least had a foreclosure notice served, but whose homes had not yet been seized, and the September "foreclosure inventory" now represents the lowest percentage of homes that remained in the foreclosure process since the spring of 2007... new foreclosure starts, which have been volatile from month to month, fell to 61,664 in September from 68,820 in August and were down from the 79,900 new foreclosures we saw in September a year ago...as foreclosure starts in April of this year were at the lowest level in over ten years, new foreclosures for the year have remained close to the levels of foreclosure starts we saw during 2005 and 2006, before the mortgage crisis began...

in addition to homes in foreclosure, Mortgage Monitor data also showed that 2,164,820 mortgages, or 4.27% of all mortgage loans, were at least one monthly mortgage payment overdue but not in foreclosure at the end of September, up from the 4.24% of homeowners with a mortgage who were more than 30 days behind in August, but down from the mortgage delinquency rate of 4.87% in September a year earlier, while also up from the mortgage crisis low of 4.08% of all mortgages that were delinquent in March ...of those who were delinquent in September, 668,114 home owners, or 1.32% of those with a mortgage, were more than 90 days behind on mortgage payments, but still not in foreclosure at the end of the month, which was down a bit from the 669,173 such "seriously delinquent" mortgages in August...combining the total number of delinquent mortgages with those in foreclosure, we find that a total of 2,673,867 mortgage loans, or 5.28% of homeowners with a mortgage, were either late in paying or in foreclosure at the end of September, and that 1,177,161, or 2.32% of all homeowners, were in serious trouble, ie, either "seriously delinquent" or already in foreclosure at month end...

the week’s privately issued reports included the ADP Employment Report for October, the light vehicle sales report for July from Wards Automotive, which estimated that vehicles sold at a 17.90 million annual rate in October, up 1.4% from the 17.65 million annual rate in September, and up 1.5% from the same month a year ago, and both of the widely followed purchasing manager's surveys from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM): the October Manufacturing Report On Business indicated that the manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) rose to 51.9% in October, up from 51.5% in September, which still suggests a sluggish expansion in manufacturing firms nationally, and the October Non-Manufacturing Report On Business; which saw the NMI (non-manufacturing index) fall to 54.8%, from 57.1% in September, indicating a smaller plurality of service industry purchasing managers reported expansion in various facets of their business in October...both of those ISM reports are easy to read and include anecdotal comments from purchasing managers from the 34 business types who participate in those surveys nationally...

Employers Add 161,000 Jobs in October; Employment and Unemployment Both Down

the Employment Situation Summary for October indicated fairly weak job creation, a decent increase in average wages for those who were working, while the unemployment rate, the employment to population ratio and the labor force participation rate all fell by 0.1%…estimates extrapolated from the seasonally adjusted establishment survey data projected that employers added 161,000 jobs in October, after the previously estimated payroll job increase for September was revised up from 156,000 to 191,000 and the payroll jobs increase for August was revised up from 167,000 to 176,000…that means that this report represents a total of 205,000 more seasonally adjusted payroll jobs than were reported last month, partially ameliorating the weak MoM headline increase...the unadjusted data, however, shows that there were actually 724,000 fewer payroll jobs extent than in September, so the month's job increase was entirely due to a large seasonal adjustment...

seasonally adjusted job increases in October were spread throughout the private service sector and in government, while new jobs in the goods producing industries netted zero, because the 11,000 job increase in construction was completely offset by job losses in manufacturing and resource exploitation...the broad professional and business services sector added 43,000 jobs, with 8,300 more positions in computer systems design and 8,100 more jobs in services to buildings ....the health care sector saw the addition of 30,500 jobs with the addition of 18,500 jobs in ambulatory care services and 12,700 jobs in hospitals....branches of government added 19,000 employees, with 12,000 of those employed by the Feds...another 14,000 jobs were added in the financial sector, with 7,700 of those in insurance and related activities...otherwise, no other sector saw increases larger than 10,000, as even retail sales saw a decrease of 1,000 jobs, with the loss of 15,600 jobs in clothing and accessories stores...

with most of the increases in generally better paying jobs, the establishment survey also showed that average hourly pay for all employees rose by 10 cents an hour to $25.92 an hour in October, after it had increased by a revised 8 cents an hour in September; at the same time, the average hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory employees increased by 4 cents to $21.72 an hour...employers also reported that the average workweek for all private payroll employees was unchanged at 34.4 hours in October, while hours for production and non-supervisory personnel was unchanged at 33.6 hours, after their September average workweek was revised higher by a tenth of an hour...at the same time, the manufacturing workweek increased by 0.1 hour to 40.8 hours, while average factory overtime was unchanged at 3.3 hours...

meanwhile, the October household survey indicated that the seasonally adjusted extrapolation of those who reported being employed fell by an estimated 43,000 to 151,925,000, while the estimated number of those unemployed fell by 152,000 to 7,939,000; and hence the total labor force decreased by a total of 195,000....since the working age population had grown by 230,000 over the same period, that meant the number of employment aged individuals who were not in the labor force rose by 425,000 to 94,609,000, which was enough to reduce the labor force participation rate from 62.9% in September to 62.8% in October...in addition, the drop in number employed combined with the increase in the population was also enough to cut the employment to population ratio, which we could think of as an employment rate, from 59.8% to 59.7%...but at the same time, with the relatively large drop in the number unemployed was also enough to cut the unemployment rate from 5.0% to 4.9%...meanwhile, the number of those who reported they were forced to accept just part time work fell by 5,000, from 5,894,000 in September to 5,889,000 in October, which combined with the lower unemployment rate, cut the alternative measure of unemployment, U-6, which includes those "employed part time for economic reasons", down to 9.5% of the labor force in October, its lowest level since April 2008....

like most reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment situation press release itself is easy to read and understand, so you can get more details on these two reports from there...note that almost every paragraph in that release points to one or more of the tables that are linked to on the bottom of the release, and those tables are also on a separate html page here that you can open it along side the press release to avoid the need to scroll up and down the page..

September Personal Income Rose 0.3%, Personal Spending Rose 0.5%

technically, the Monday release of the September Income and Outlays report was concurrent with the GDP release on the prior Friday, since all the PCE data in the GDP report comes from this report, and like that 3rd quarter GDP report we reviewed last week, all the dollar values reported here are at an annual rate and seasonally adjusted, ie, they tell us what income, spending and saving would be for a year if September's adjusted income and spending were extrapolated over an entire year...however, the percentage changes are computed monthly, from one annualized figure to the next, and in this case of this month's report they give us the percentage change in each annualized metric from August to September....thus, when the opening line of the press release for this report tell us "Personal income increased $46.7 billion (0.3 percent) in September...", they mean that the annualized figure for all types of personal income in September, $16,089.7 billion, was$46.7 billion, or almost 0.3% greater than the annualized personal income figure for August; the actual increase in personal income in September over August is not given....similarly, disposable personal income, which is income after taxes, also rose by less than 0.3%, from an annual rate of $14,070.2 billion in August to an annual rate of $14,107.2 billion in September...

meanwhile, seasonally adjusted personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for September, which were included in the change in real PCE in 3rd quarter GDP, rose at a $61.0 billion annual rate to a level of $12,844.0 billion in consumer spending annually, almost 0.5% higher than in August, which itself was revised from the originally reported annual rate of $12,802.3 billion to $12,783.0 billion...the current dollar increase in September spending included a $28.0 billion annualized increase to an annualized $8,733.5 billion spending for services, an $18.1 billion increase to $1,410.3 billion in annualized spending for durable goods, and a $14.9 billion increase to $2,700.2 billion in annualized spending for non durable goods...total personal outlays for September, which includes interest payments, and personal transfer payments in addition to PCE, rose by an annualized $59.7 billion to $13,309.4 billion, which left personal savings, which is disposable personal income less total outlays, at a $797.8 billion annual rate in September, down from the revised $820.5 billion in annualized personal savings in August...as a result, the personal saving rate, which is personal savings as a percentage of disposable personal income, fell to 5.7%, from 5.8% in August, which itself was originally reported at 5.7%..

while our personal consumption expenditures accounted for 68.8% of our second quarter GDP, before they were included in the measurement of the change in our output they were first adjusted for inflation, to give us the real change in consumption, and hence the real change in goods and services that were produced for that consumption.....that's done with the price index for personal consumption expenditures, which is included in this report, which is a chained price index based on 2009 prices = 100....from Table 9 in the pdf for this report, we find that that index rose from 110.898 in August to 111.135 in September, giving us a month over month inflation rate of 0.2137%, which BEA reports as an increase of +0.2%; at the same time, Table 11 gives us a year over year PCE price index increase of 1.2%, and a core price increase, excluding food and energy, of 1.7% for the year, both still below the Fed's inflation target...applying the September inflation adjustment to the change in September PCE shows that real PCE was up 0.263%, which BEA reports as a 0.3% increase in their tables...note that when those PCE price indexes are applied to a given month's annualized current dollar PCE, it yields that month's annualized real PCE in chained 2009 dollars, which aren't really dollar amounts at all, but merely the means that the BEA uses to compare one month's or one quarter's real goods and services produced to another....those results are shown in tables 7 and 8 of the PDF, where the quarterly figures given are identical to those shown in table 3 in the GDP report, and which were used to compute the contribution of real personal consumption of goods and services to GDP...

September Trade Deficit Down 9.9% on Aircraft and Services Trade Reversals

our trade deficit fell by 9.9% in September as the value of our exports increased and the value of our imports decreased....the Census report on our international trade in goods and services for September indicated that our seasonally adjusted goods and services trade deficit fell by more than $4.0 billion (rounded) to $36.4 billion in September from a revised August deficit of $40.5 billion...the value of our September exports rose by $1.0 billion to $189.2 billion on a $0.6 billion increase to $126.1 billion in our exports of goods and a $0.4 billion increase to $63.1 billion in our exports of services, while our imports fell $3.0 billion to $225.6 billion on a $2.0 billion decrease to $183.7 billion in our imports of goods while our imports of services fell $1.0 billion to $42.0 billion...export prices were on average 0.3% higher in September, so the relative real increase in September exports would be lower than the nominal amount by that percentage, while import prices were 0.1% higher, meaning real imports were smaller than the nominal dollar values reported here by that fractional percentage....

the increase in our September exports of goods resulted from higher exports of capital goods and of consumer goods, which was partially offset by lower exports of foods, feeds and beverages...referencing the Full Release and Tables for September (pdf), in Exhibit 7 we find that our exports of capital goods rose by $1576 million to $43,684 million on a $1444 million increase in our exports of civilian aircraft, and that our exports of consumer goods rose by $738 million to $16,824 million on a $1,042 million increase in our exports of artwork and antique, which was partially offset by a $328 million decrease in our exports of pharmaceuticals...in addition, our exports of industrial supplies and materials rose by $497 million to $34,765 million on a $254 million increase in our exports of nonmonetary gold, and our exports of other goods not categorized by end use rose by $102 million to $5,090 million...offsetting the increases in those export categories, our exports of foods, feeds and beverages fell by $1732 million to $12,644 million on a $2,015 million decrease in our exports soybeans, and our exports of automotive vehicles, parts, and engines fell by $458 million to $12,452 million on a $517 million decrease in our exports of new and used passenger cars...

Exhibit 8 in the Full Release and Tables gives us seasonally adjusted details on our goods imports and shows that lower imports of capital goods and consumer goods were responsible for the $2.0 billion decrease in our goods imports, even as our imports of passenger cars increased....our imports of capital goods fell by $1,690 million to $48,475 million on a $531 million decrease in our imports of civilian aircraft, a $317 million decrease in our imports of computer accessories, and a $229 million decrease in our imports of telecommunications equipment...at the same time, our imports of consumer goods fell by $837 million to $47,199 million on a $652 million decrease in our imports of pharmaceuticals, a $261 million decrease in our imports of cellphones, and a $260 million decrease in our imports of apparel and fabric household goods, other than those made of wool or cotton...in addition, our imports of industrial supplies and materials fell by $39 million to $38,007 million, even as our imports of organic chemicals rose by $618 million, on a $309 million decrease in our imports of fuel oil and smaller decreases in many other line items, and our imports of other goods not categorized by end use fell by $373 million to $7,580 million...partially offsetting those decreases, our imports of automotive vehicles, parts and engines rose by $1182 million to $29,823 million on a $1,059 million increase in our imports of of new and used passenger cars, and our imports of foods, feeds, and beverages rose by $4 million to $10,915 million as small increases in several food items were offset by decreases in imports of meat products, fish and shellfish..

in last week's advance report on 3rd quarter GDP, our September trade deficit was estimated based on the sketchy Advance Report on our International Trade in Goods which was released last week, just before the GDP release...that report estimated that our September goods trade deficit was at $56,083 million on a Census basis, down from the $59,149 million goods deficit in August, on goods exports of $125,647 million and goods imports of $181,730 million...this report revises that and shows that our actual goods trade deficit in September was $57,519 billion on a balance of payments basis, and $56,540 billion on a Census basis, on Census adjusted goods imports of $183,650 billion and Census adjusted goods exports of $125,459 billion...in addition, the August trade deficit was revised bit lower to $59,015 million...together, those revisions from the previously published data mean that the 3rd quarter trade deficit in goods was roughly $0.3 billion more than was included in last week's GDP report, or roughly $1.3 billion on an annualized basis, which would subtract about 0.03 percentage points from 3rd quarter GDP ...however, the unusual change in September trade was the $1.4 billion reduction in our trade deficit in services, which resulted from a $0.4 billion increase in our travel exports and a $1.2 billion decrease in our charges for the use of intellectual property, as September's trade was without the August charge for broadcast rights for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games...in the Technical Note for 3rd Quarter GDP, the BEA says they don't yet have September services trade data, but they don't indicate how they estimated it...the GDP report itself shows our annualized exports of services rose $3.6 billion, while our annualized imports of services rose $10.1 billion...if the September improvement in our services trade was not included in that, it could add as much as 0.13 percentage points to 3rd quarter GDP...

Construction Spending Fell 0.4% in September after Prior Months Were Revised Higher

the Census Bureau's report on construction spending for September (pdf) estimated that the month's seasonally adjusted construction spending would work out to $1,150.0 billion annually if extrapolated over an entire year, which was 0.4 percent (±1.3%)* below the revised annualized August estimate of $1,140.9 billion and also 0.2 percent (±1.8%)* below the estimated annualized level of construction spending in September of last year...the annualized August construction spending estimate was revised 1.1% higher, from $1,142.2 billion to $1,154.4 billion, while the annual rate of construction spending for July was revised 0.9% higher, from $1,150.6 billion to $1,160.4 billion...

private construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $879.7 billion in September, 0.2 percent (±1.0%)* below the revised August estimate of $881.6 billion, with residential spending of 453.7 billion in September, 0.5 percent (±1.3%)* higher than the upwardly revised annual rate of $451.3 billion in August, while private non-residential construction spending fell 1.0 percent (±1.0%) to $426.0 billion from the revised August level, which included a 2.4% decrease in spending for construction of commercial buildings....at the same time, public construction spending was estimated to be at an annual rate of $270.3 billion, 0.9 percent (±2.5%) below the revised August estimate of $272.8 billion, with public spending for education down 1.1 percent (±4.1%)* to an annual rate of $66.6 billion...

construction spending for all three months of the 3rd quarter was higher than was reported by the BEA in the advance report for 2nd quarter GDP....as we saw above, annualized construction spending for July was revised $9.8 billion higher, and annualized construction spending for August was revised $12.2 billion higher...in reporting 2nd quarter GDP, the BEA's technical note (pdf) indicated that they had estimated September residential construction would be $2.4 billion less than that of the previously reported August figure, with single family construction valued at $233.7 billion and multifamily valued at $61.5 billion, and that September nonresidential construction would be $423.3 billion, $0.9 billion greater than that of the reported August figure...with this report, September residential construction spending was actually up $2.4 billion, with new single family construction at $236,556 million and new multifamily construction at $62,079 million, and while September nonresidential construction spending was down $4.3 billion, at $426.0 billion it was actually $2.7 billion more than the BEA had estimated.…that means that all told, the BEA underestimated annualized September construction spending by $5.1 billion...hence, the annualized figure for 3rd quarter construction spending would thus be $9.03 billion more than the figure used by the BEA when computing 2nd quarter GDP, which would mean that this report implies a .22 percentage point increase to 3rd quarter GDP...

this report also indicated that the seasonally adjusted value of September factory shipments rose for the sixth time in 7 months, increasing by $3.9 billion or 0.8 percent to $463.0 billion, following a 0.2% increase in August...shipments of durable goods were up by $1.8 billion or 0.8 percent to $234.3 billion, virtually unrevised from what was published last week...meanwhile, the value of shipments (and hence of "new orders") of non-durable goods rose by $2.1 billion, or 0.9%, to $228.7 billion, as a $1.4 billion, 4.6% increase in the value of shipments from petroleum refineries accounted for two-thirds of the increase...

meanwhile, the aggregate value of September factory inventories fell for the first time in three months, decreasing by $0.2 billion to $621.4 billion, which would be considered statistically unchanged....September inventories of durable goods increased in value by $0.3 billion or 0.1 percent to $383.8 billion, essentially unrevised from what was reported in the advance report....the value of non-durable goods' inventories decreased by $0.5 billion or 0.2% to $237.6 billion, following a increase of 0.1% in August...the BEA's technical note for 3rd quarter GDP indicates that they had estimated that the value of non-durable goods inventories would decrease by $3.9 billion, so that would indicate a that they underestimated the 3rd quarter GDP inventory component by about $3.4 billion, which would imply that 3rd quarter GDP will have to be adjusted upwards by another 0.09 percentage points to account for what this report shows..

note on the graphs used here

in March a year ago the St Louis Fed, home to the FRED graphs, changed their graphs to an interactive format, which apparently necessitated eliminating some of the incompatible options which we had used in creating our static graphs before then...as a result, many of the FRED graphs we've included on this website previous to that date, all of which were all created and stored at the FRED site and which we'd always hyperlinked back there, were reformatted, which in many cases changed our bar graphs to line graphs, and some cases rendered them unreadable... however, you can still click the text links we've always used in referring to them to view versions of our graphs as interactive graphs on the FRED site, or in the case where an older graph has gone missing, click on the blank space where it had been in order to view it in the new format....